


Boys Who Like Bauhaus

by vio1et



Category: Pentagon (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-05 21:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20280274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vio1et/pseuds/vio1et
Summary: Kang Kino, student council president and overt goody-two-shoes, has never liked anybody as much as he likes the school’s resident punk and rebel without a cause, Jung Wooseok.





	Boys Who Like Bauhaus

**Author's Note:**

> i was challenged to put my music on shuffle and write a fic based on a lyric from the first song that came up, which was she’s out of her mind by blink-182. i chose: “she’s got a black shirt, black skirt and bauhaus stuck in her head.”  
aaaaand here we are!!!
> 
> for simplicity’s sake i age bent everyone to the same year of high school lol 
> 
> enjoy :o)

Kino is not the type of guy who should have a crush on Jung Wooseok. Frankly, he didn’t know if _anybody_ was the type of guy who should have a crush on Wooseok, but Kino was first on the list of those who should not. 

For starters, Kino was student council president. He ran varsity track and was the star of the tennis team. He was editor of the yearbook. He had a 4.0 GPA, and if that stupid Yeo Changgu would mess up one measly test already, he’d be on his way to being valedictorian. He was good looking and popular. He’d never gone to a school dance without being asked by at least two or three people. He was the teenage dream, in every sense of the term. 

Wooseok was the opposite of that. He was never on time for class, and when he was there, he didn’t pay attention. His only foray into school activities had been a brief stint on the basketball team freshman year, but he’d been kicked off two games into the season because he and his burnout friends had been caught smoking weed behind the football field bleachers during lunch. 

On top of that, Kino was certain that, if his mom ever laid eyes on Wooseok, she would say he dressed like Marilyn Manson. Kino didn’t think he was quite that out there, but he did typically wear all black getups and paint his nails. His ears were even pierced, and he liked to wear a a single dangly, silver, cross-shaped earring on his left side, a sight Kino’s parents might faint at. 

Still, Kino couldn’t help it. He liked Wooseok’s nails and his earrings and the way he didn’t really seem to care what anybody thought about him. Kino especially liked the photos he took on his old vintage camera and hand developed. Kino didn’t have the nerve to follow Wooseok on Instagram, but he checked for new photos daily, daydreaming of Wooseok posting a candid of _him_.

Now, all Kino could do was stare at Wooseok across the cafeteria as he and his friends talked and laughed all lunch. A part of him didn’t just want to hang out with Wooseok. He wanted to hang out with _all_ of them. Kino liked his own friends, but the burnouts always seemed to be having a lot more fun than his student council clique. 

“Are you listening to me?” Yanan snaps, bringing Kino back to reality. Kino wishes he hadn’t. Yanan was Kino’s best friend, but Kino was sick of treating every lunch like a student council or yearbook meeting. He didn’t want to plan a dance right now. He wanted to eat jello and gossip. 

“Oh, god. Sorry, An. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” Kino lies. Yanan rolls his eyes. 

“I _said_ we have virtually no pictures of students actually in class or at lunch or whatever for the yearbook,” Yanan repeats. “It feels like all pictures are of the jocks. People are going to be pissed.” 

“Isn’t that what people want to see anyway?” Hongseok, captain of the swim team and president of the arrogance club, quips. “That’s how high school works. You play a sport, you go to dances, you get to be in the yearbook. Why would we go around taking pictures of dorks reading in the library?”

“Don’t be an asshole,” Yanan orders. “Our school is about more than sports or dances, you know. I want the yearbook to be about more than that. We’re seniors. I want everyone to look back on this ten years from now and remember hanging out with their friends in the halls and their favorite teachers. Don’t you, Kino?”

Kino’s ears perk up at his name. He supposed he has final say. 

“Yeah, of course,” Kino says, siding with Yanan easily. “We’ll just ask the principal for passes for our photographers to take pictures in classes. No big deal.”

“You have to send the book to the printers in a couple of weeks. All of the photos are going to be from the same time period if you do that,” Hongseok reminds him. “It’ll be weird.”

“I’ll also send out an appeal for student life pictures over the announcements. It’ll be fine,” Kino decides. The others at the table agree, and the topic changes just like that, leaving Kino to fall back into his fantasies about Wooseok. 

Kino is trying to come up with an excuse to talk to Wooseok before the school year ends and he completely misses his chance when he realizes he has a real excuse. Wooseok had been taking pictures in his classes, in the halls and at lunch all year. If anybody had the photos Yanan was looking for, it was him. Kino could make Yanan happy _and_ finally talk to his dream boy, all in one go. Just the thought was making his heart flutter. 

After school, Kino darts to the parking lot to meet Wooseok at his car before he can escape for the day. He was thankful everyone knew which car was Wooseok‘s, otherwise he would have looked like a creep waiting beside his old town car from the 90s. It was easy to spot, since it was by far the oldest one in the lot. 

Kino’s nervousness has just about talked him into leaving when he looks up from his shoes to see Wooseok approaching him. He was wearing black jeans, boots, a striped gray long sleeve undershirt and a t-shirt that had a monster’s eyes on it along with the word _Bauhaus_. Kino assumed that was a band of some sort, but he didn’t know for sure. Wooseok was, of course, rocking his signature cross earring and chipped black nail polish, too, along with an assortment of bracelets and necklaces. 

“Mr. President,” Wooseok says flatly when he finally reaches Kino. “To what do I owe the pleasure? If it’s about the vandalism in the third floor bathroom, I can tell you with certainty that I do not know any bible verses. You have the wrong guy.”

“What? I- I didn’t even know about that,” Kino admits. “I try not to enter the bathrooms here.”

“Good. There’s a lot of iniquity someone like you shouldn’t be subjected to,” Wooseok decides. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks, crossing his arms. 

“That you’re too prissy to witness me buying Xanax from a freshman in broad daylight,” Wooseok says bluntly, running a hand through his hair and flipping the hair that had fallen out of place back to where it belonged. Kino swallows hard, trying not to react. He didn’t want Wooseok to think he was judgmental, even if he so obviously already thought he was. “Listen, did you need something? This place is kinda my personal prison, and if I don’t have to be here, I don’t want to be.”

“Um, yeah,” Kino says, stumbling over his own thoughts. He was usually so confident and charismatic, but one look from Wooseok brought him to his knees. “I just- I’m the editor of the yearbook, and we’re having an issue with making sure all students are present in the final product. Most of the staff hangs around the same people, so I thought we should reach out to others.”

“Um, okay,” Wooseok mumbles, clearly not very interested in the yearbook or Kino’s dilemma. 

“I’ve seen your pictures. On Instagram. I think they’re really beautiful, and if you have any that you want to share-”

“Oh, I get it,” Wooseok says. Kino bit his lip. Maybe he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the bunch, but he was _cute_. The way his eyebrows reacted to everything Kino said and he couldn’t help but think out-loud made Kino’s heart pound. “Um, I don’t know. Are you busy this afternoon?”

Kino shakes his head without missing a beat. He could’ve been meeting the Pope for dinner and still would’ve said he was free. 

“If you want, you can come over to my house and look through all my photos. I just keep them in a tub in my room once they’re developed. I’m not sure I have what you’re looking for, but if you find anything, I can scan the photos and email them to you,” Wooseok explains. Kino can barely hear him over his own heartbeat. 

“That would be really, really awesome of you,” Kino says. Wooseok offers him a tiny grin. Kino would’ve killed for a real smile and a glimpse of his beautiful, perfectly straight teeth, but he would accept positive attention from Wooseok in any form he could get it. 

“Cool. Uh, I need to go back to my locker and grab a few more rolls of film I can develop for you, then. Can we just meet at my house in, like, half an hour?” Wooseok suggests. Kino nods. He was _going back to his locker_ just for Kino? This has to be a sign. 

“Um, yeah. Yeah, text me your address,” Kino requests. Wooseok furrows his eyebrows. 

“I’m supposed to just have President Kang Kino’s phone number?” Wooseok asks. Kino is taken aback. 

“I thought everyone had my number,” Kino admits. 

“For what shared activity would I have obtained your number?” Wooseok asks with a tiny smirk. He pulls a pen out of his pocket and offers it to Kino, then presents him with his palm. “Write.”

“Why don’t you just give me your address now then?” Kino asks, taking the pen from Wooseok anyway. He wasn’t going to let his opportunity to _touch him_ pass. He used one hand to steady him and the other to quickly write his number in tiny print across the back of his hand. 

“Because then I still don’t have your number,” Wooseok informs him as he pulls his hand away. Kino swallows hard, trying to keep himself calm so his face didn’t go beet red right in front of Wooseok. “Talk to you in a bit?”

“Yeah,” he manages. Wooseok nods, then turns around and heads back into the school, leaving Kino to just stand in the parking lot like the fool he was. 

Half an hour later, when Kino arrives at Wooseok’s house, he isn’t prepared for what he finds. He double, triple checks the address, but he’s in the right place. A part of Kino thinks this is some sort of prank. There was no way a guy like Wooseok lived in the biggest house on Kino’s block. Kids from this part of town weren’t like him; that’s why Kino was attracted to Wooseok in the first place. He was completely different from anybody he’d been friends with growing up or even now. 

But then Kino notices Wooseok’s car, parked a ways up the long, winding driveway, and Wooseok was nowhere to be found, meaning only that he could be inside. Kino parks right next to Wooseok, then walks along the path until he reaches his front door. He was frankly terrified to knock. Just as he’s finally worked up the courage to do so, the door comes swinging open as his hand reaches the wood. 

“Took you a while to get here,” Wooseok says, taking a bite out of the green apple he was holding. “Don’t you live close by?”

“Um- yeah, I do. I didn’t know we were practically neighbors. I would’ve biked or walked instead of taking my car,” Kino explains. Wooseok shrugs. 

“Sorry. Figured you’d recognize the street name,” Wooseok offers, stepping out of the doorway and effectively inviting Kino inside. 

“Your house is so big there are only like two others on this street, so no,” Kino teases. He was trying to be discreet about checking out Wooseok’s house, but he was struggling. Wooseok’s family was more well off than any of Kino’s friends. 

“Ha,” Wooseok says dryly. “Didn’t really expect you to react the same as my friends who are barely zoned for the school. Didn’t your dad, like, invent e-mail?”

“My dad isn’t old enough to have invented e-mail,” Kino corrects him. “He invented a software that made it so that e-mails can-”

“Kino, if you think I understand e-mail software you are wrong,” Wooseok remarks with a laugh, leading Kino over to the stairwell. The walls in their house were plastered with photos of Wooseok and a girl who Kino presumes is his sister in attire much too formal for a couple of children. 

“Family money?” Kino asks. Wooseok nods. 

“Don’t tell people at school that, though. Being a one-percenter is _not_ punk rock,” Wooseok jokes as they climb the stairs. 

“You’re punk? I thought you were, like, goth,” Kino admits. 

“Wow, you know your stuff,” Wooseok laughs. “Bauhaus, like, invented goth rock.” 

“I just assumed because you don’t wear any, um, color,” Kino explains. Wooseok laughs again.

“I don’t really identify as goth,” Wooseok admits. “The whole gloomy thing and lace shit- that’s not really me. I just like the music.”

“Oh, cool,” Kino says gently as they reach Wooseok’s room. “I’ve never heard any.”

“I could show you sometime,” Wooseok suggests, stopping completely to voice his thoughts. Kino’s heart pounds so hard he can hear it in his ears. “I have so many cool vinyls we could listen to. Or, I don’t know. I could just text you some tracks-“ 

“No!” Kino resists. Wooseok raises his eyebrows. Kino swallows. _Fuck_. “I just meant, um, that music is meant to be listened to with people. And the vinyls probably sound so much better than the recordings.”

“Oh, yeah. I actually- I was telling Yuto the same thing,” Wooseok explains. “Music is meant to be shared. Maybe not slow songs or whatever, but rock and punk is. Those are the cries of a movement, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kino agrees. Truthfully, he’d been thinking about how he and Yanan always listen to new Beyoncé and Rihanna albums together when they come out, then sing their favorite songs together every time they’re in the same car after that. He didn’t know about movements or anything like that, just how much better it felt to listen to _Work_ with his best friend than alone. 

“Oh, um, we’re here,” Wooseok notes awkwardly, as though they hadn’t been standing outside his room for a minute now. Wooseok pushes the door open, and Kino couldn’t say he was surprised by what he saw. 

Wooseok had covered the entirety of the back wall of his room with posters of bands Kino had never once listened to a song from, if he’d heard of them at all. The wall to the left was covered in prints of photos, most of which appeared to be of the friends Kino had seen him around with. Next to his bed, he had two large, black bookcases filled with books, vinyls, old cameras and virtually anything else Wooseok liked. All the shelves and his desk were cluttered, but it didn’t feel dirty. It felt like a home.

“Alright, I keep my buckets of developed photos under my bed,” Wooseok explains, crawling onto his floor and pulling out two big, thin boxes filled to the brim with stacked photos. “You can also look at the ones on my wall, but those are from a bunch of years and kinda personal. You can tell when they’re from by my hair, though. I started growing it out over the summer, so if it’s longer, it’s from this year. The one’s around those are from the same time frame, probably.” 

Kino held back an _I know_. He’d about died when he’d seen Wooseok’s hair on Instagram before school started last August. Kino had always thought Wooseok was cute, but that’s when Kino had really gone from admiring Wooseok’s pictures to admiring Wooseok himself. 

“Start with these. They’re from last semester,” Wooseok explains, gesturing to the first bin he’d removed from underneath his bed. “Dates are on the back. Names are, too, if I knew who they were.”

“You take pictures of people you don’t know?” Kino asks, sitting down beside Wooseok and the bin. Wooseok nods. 

“I only hang up pictures of people I’m friends with, though,” Wooseok says, gesturing to his wall. “I think I would get bored of only ever photographing Yuto.”

“These are amazing,” Kino says softly, beginning to set aside pictures as soon as he looked at them. Some were a little _too_ artsy, but every photo of people laughing and hanging out in the hallways or library made Kino smile. 

“Thanks,” Wooseok says, watching Kino flip through his photos with a big grin on his face. “I’ve never had someone react like this to my pictures before. I mean, my sister always tells me they’re good, but you- I don’t know.”

Kino turns his head and flashes Wooseok a gentle smile. Wooseok immediately looks away, effectively disheartening Kino. 

Kino is just about to lose every last bit of hope he has that Wooseok could ever like him back when he flips to a photo of himself. Then another. And another. There were five in total, all of him, all in a row. He was sitting on the steps behind the school, back against a pillar and eyes glued to a book. Each photo was a different composition, but they were all of the same moment, something Kino hadn’t seen in Wooseok’s photos so far. 

“Oh, um,” Wooseok whispers whenever he sees what pictures Kino is looking at. “I forgot about those. I took them so long ago. I just remember thinking you looked like someone had posed you. The lighting was really good, too, since it was kinda late.” 

“Yeah,” Kino agrees, flipping over one of the photos to see exactly when he’d taken them. On the back, he sees Wooseok had written “Mr. President, Oct. 12th” in pencil. Next to it, Wooseok had clearly doodled a heart then attempted to erase it. Kino could still see the remnants of the lead. He feels his heart start to race at the thought of Wooseok liking Kino enough to take this many shots of one moment and then draw a heart on the back, too. 

“I think there are more of you,” Wooseok admits. “You just- you’re easy to take pictures of.”

“I am?” Kino asks, wrinkling his nose. It was hard to even focus on their conversation with all the thoughts and theories and butterflies racing around inside of him. 

“Yeah. I don’t know. You’re just, like, delicate, I guess,” Wooseok explains. Kino just blinks at him, watching Wooseok get increasingly flustered as his face flushed. “Like, take my friend, Hui, for example. I don’t know if you know him, but he’s kinda a mess. He always slouches and makes awkward facial expressions. When I take pictures of him, they’re funny and I like them, but they’re not _pretty_ if that makes sense. You’re the opposite.”

“Um, thank you,” Kino whispers. He really, deeply likes the idea that Wooseok liked to take pictures of him. As cheesy as it was, Kino had fantasized of being his muse for a long time, and this really put him on track. “I really like the pictures you took.”

“Thanks. I’m gonna crawl under a rock now,” Wooseok murmurs, burying his face in his hands. 

“Why?” Kino asks with a laugh. Wooseok groans. 

“Because I just looked _the_ Kang Kino, our class president, future valedictorian, prep king and school golden boy, in the eyes and implied that I think he’s pretty,” Wooseok recounts. “I’m really sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? It was a nice thing to say,” Kino assures him, resting a hand on his shoulder. Wooseok glances up at him. 

“You’re a really nice person, Kino,” Wooseok says. “If I had said that to _any_ other prep they would’ve been freaked out.”

“Can you stop putting me into a box?” Kino asks with a laugh. “Your entire thing is that you’re a rebel and an individual, but you just assume what I’m like.” 

“It’s not that,” Wooseok explains. “It’s just- the people someone hangs out with say a lot about them, and the people _you_ hang out with are not very nice to the people _I_ hang out with.” 

“Well, I would never treat you that way. Or any of your friends,” Kino promises. “I like that you guys don’t want to be like anybody else. I notice you at lunch occasionally, and I always think you all look like you’re having so much fun.”

“You should sit with us sometime then,” Wooseok suggests. “Shinwon might poke fun at you a bit, though, so make sure you have your thickest skin on. He does it to everyone, I swear.”

“O-okay,” Kino stutters. He really wanted to, but he couldn’t help but worry about what Yanan and Hongseok and Changgu would think. Kino didn’t consider any of his friends to be _mean_, but they had really high standards for themselves and certainly didn’t think kindly of people like Wooseok, who’d been suspended for doing drugs on campus and had a basically blank college résumé. “I will.”

“Cool. We’d love to have an in with the president,” Wooseok teases. “I will admit most of us didn’t vote for you though. That girl who nominated her service dog _really_ captured some hearts, you know?”

“Did you vote for me?” Kino asks. Wooseok’s face drops, clearly embarrassed again. 

“I- yeah,” Wooseok admits. “I vote for you every year. I figure I don’t really like school dances and whatever, but I don’t want them to suck for people who do. And I think a dog planning them would definitely make them suck.”

“That makes me happy,” Kino says with a tiny smile, returning to flipping through Wooseok’s pictures. 

“I-uh. I’m happy I made you happy,” Wooseok returns. Kino continues to smile, picking up another pile of photos.

Wooseok and Kino spend the rest of the afternoon sorting through photos and talking. Once Wooseok gets really comfortable with Kino, he talked and talked and talked. He told Kino so much about photos and music. Kino loved to see him talk about something so passionately. It made his heart swell in the best way. A couple of times, Kino is _sure_ Wooseok is flirting with him. He didn’t know if that was even possible, but he wanted it to be true. 

Eventually, Wooseok even takes out one of his cameras and takes a couple of pictures of Kino. Kino tries not to change his behavior because of the camera, but he ends up laughing and posing anyway. Wooseok ends up in stitches, too, and even takes a couple of them together.

“For the wall,” he had explained. Kino squealed internally at the thought of Wooseok putting a photo of Kino up on his wall along with all of the people he cared about most. 

By the time they finish looking through all the photos, Kino thinks he has more than enough pictures to satisfy Yanan and a new friend, too. He even followed Wooseok on Instagram and got a follow back. 

“I’ll scan these now and send you the files tonight so you guys can get to work starting tomorrow,” Wooseok declares as he walks Kino out to his car. Kino nods, but he’s distracted by how _empty_ Wooseok’s house still feels at nearly eight at night. 

“Are your parents still not home?” Kino asks. Wooseok nods, glancing around as they reach the front door. 

“They’re in Germany, I think. They’re definitely in Europe,” Wooseok informs him. Kino raises his eyebrows. “They aren’t home a lot. They’re usually at work or on business trips or just not here.”

“Oh,” Kino says weakly. “Don’t you get lonely?”

“Ah, I don’t know. Sometimes. It wasn’t so bad when my sister was here, but she moved for college so it’s just me now,” he explains, running a hand through his hair absently. Kino frowns. 

“You should come over to my house tomorrow. We do family dinners on Fridays,” Kino offers. “It’s probably been a while since you’ve been to one of those.”

“Oh, god. I don’t want to intrude-”

“Are you kidding? As long as you tell my mom you love her food, you’re just as valuable to her as either of her kids,” Kino assures him with a laugh. Wooseok smiles at him, this time with teeth. Kino feels like they’re really making progress. 

“Okay, okay. I can’t wait,” Wooseok says cheerfully, opening the door for Kino so he can leave. Kino expects him to say his goodbyes, but he continues to lead Kino out to his car. 

“Quite the gentleman,” Kino notes with a laugh. “Most of my friends don’t even walk me to the door.” 

“I kinda just want to spend every second I can with you,” Wooseok admits quietly. Kino practically chokes on his own spit in response. 

“Are you okay?” Wooseok cries. Kino nods, suddenly overwhelmed with embarrassment. “Jesus Christ. I’m sorry.”

“No, I didn’t- I just- I want to spend every second I can with you, too,” Kino clarifies.

“Oh, um. I’m glad,” Wooseok whispers. He bit his lip softly and leaned against his car for support as they finally reached the driveway. “I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow? At lunch maybe?”

“Yeah,” Kino confirms, gently touching Wooseok’s arm with a soft smile. Wooseok looked down at his feet in embarrassment. “Goodnight, Wooseok.”

“Goodnight, Mr. President.”

The next morning, Kino awakens to so many emails from Wooseok he can hardly believe the day before wasn’t a fever dream. He quickly forwarded them to Yanan, then he performed his ritualistic morning check of Wooseok’s Instagram. His heart almost stops when he sees of photo of himself from yesterday. 

His face wasn’t in the frame, only his body and the tub of photos. He sat cross-legged and was holding a bunch of photos in his hands. Kino thought it was a pretty picture, though he wanted to see a lot more from last night. Then, he notices the caption. 

_I pictured us at the end of time taking pictures of nothing. _

Kino feels like he’s about to explode. If he was waiting for confirmation Wooseok liked him, he certainly had it. Between this and his confession the night prior, Kino almost thought this whole thing was going to work out. 

Once he’s done wallowing in daydreams, Kino climbed out of bed and hurried to get ready for school. If he was going to hang out with Wooseok and all his friends today, he had to look cute.

Kino ultimately decides on a white, short-sleeve button-up and a cropped pair of jeans. He wanted to wear one of his purple sweaters, but he assumed if he wore any color he’d stick out like a sore thumb. Black wasn’t really his forté, though, and he was sure Wooseok would be confused if he showed up in his best goth cosplay, so white would have to do. 

When he arrives to school, he finds Yanan waiting for him at his locker. 

“Hey,” Kino says casually, pawing him aside so he can open his locker to put his books away. 

“How did you get _Jung Wooseok_ to surrender that many of his precious photos for the yearbook? Doesn’t he think we’re oligarchical monsters pushing classist institutions?” Yanan asks, crossing his arms. 

“He doesn’t think that,” Kino refutes. “I just asked him to send me some pictures. I see him with that camera all day. We’d be stupid not to take advantage of that.”

“I saw the picture he posted. He must’ve wanted to spend time with you,” Yanan decides, unlocking his phone and scrolling through the attachments on the emails Kino sent him. “Dracula has a crush on you.”

“I hope so,” Kino mumbles, shutting his locker and turning to look at Yanan, whose jaw had fallen, contorting his mouth into a tiny o-shape. 

“You’re into _him_?” Yanan says, absolutely gawking at Kino. 

“I don’t know,” Kino lies. “He’s cute. And was really nice to me.”

“He’s the kinda guy you bring home to scare your mom into liking your real boyfriend,” Yanan tells him with a laugh. “Your dad would _flip_.”

“I guess we’ll see. I invited him to come eat dinner with us tonight,” Kino informs Yanan simply. Yanan covers his mouth to stifle his inevitable laughter. 

“You’re _kidding_, Kino,” Yanan decides. Kino shakes his head. 

“His parents aren’t home a lot. I feel bad for him,” Kino explains. “And I like being around him.”

“Okay, dude, but whenever he tries to indoctrinate you into a cult, stay strong,” Yanan warns him with another laugh. Kino rolls his eyes. Yanan just continues scrolling through the pictures. 

“The bright side is that these are _exactly_ what I wanted,” Yanan admits. “So, thank you for thirsting after the biggest weirdo in the senior class.”

“He’s not a weirdo,” Kino snaps. 

“Whatever, Kino. I don’t care who you hook up with,” Yanan assures him. “As long as he’s not in our prom pictures.”

“Prom,” Kino says with a scoff. “Now that’s a classist institution he wouldn’t be caught dead at.”

“Good. We’re all on the same page,” Yanan says with the _bitchiest_ tone of voice and smile he can possibly manage. Before Kino can chew him out, the bell rings. “Gotta go. I’ll see you in fourth period, love.”

“Bye,” Kino mumbles in response, then scurries off to first period. 

By fourth period, Kino is overwhelmed with nervousness about how he’s going to tell his friends he wanted to sit with the burnouts instead. After the way Yanan reacted, he wasn’t sure he had the strength to do that. Just when he’s considering telling _both_ sets of people he needed to see a teacher and hiding in the library all lunch period, he receives a text from Wooseok. 

_the guys are going to eat lunch under the bleachers today. you’re still invited obviously but i understand if you want to rain check_

Kino gnaws at his lip. This was his opportunity to test the waters with Wooseok’s friends without Yanan or anyone else knowing. But didn’t the _burnouts_ of all people eating lunch outside mean they’d probably smoke at least a little? Kino didn’t know if that was pushing himself too far outside of his comfort zone. It wasn’t like he’d never been around people smoking weed before, but he definitely had never put himself in a position to be caught with drugs at school. 

Still, the opportunity to hang out with Wooseok calls to him, and when the bell rings after fourth period and Yanan arrives at his desk to walk to the cafeteria together like they did everyday, Kino can’t help but lie to him. 

“Fuck, I have to go see my calc teacher,” Kino complains loudly. 

“Ew, can’t you just go after school?” Yanan asks with a scowl. 

“She has to leave right after school today. And it’s Friday, so if I don’t go now I can’t deal with it until _next week_,” Kino elaborates. He hated lying to Yanan, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell the truth. 

“Boo,” Yanan pouts. “Good luck. I’ll grab you a jello to eat during Physics.”

“You’re an angel,” Kino sings, and Yanan salutes him before turning around and exiting the classroom without him. 

Kino packs his bag really slowly, and once he’s certain Yanan is gone, he leaves the room and heads out to the football field. 

When he arrives under the bleachers, he finds Wooseok sitting with the three friends he’d talked about most the night prior: Yuto, Hui and Shinwon. Panic starts to overwhelm him when he notices Hui, who was laying on his back with his head in Shinwon’s lap, is smoking _something_. He sits down next to Wooseok and greets everyone, but he can’t stop staring at Hui. 

“Relax, princess. It’s a cig,” Hui laughs, rotating his cigarette in his hand so Kino could see. “Nicotine. Legal.” 

“Oh,” Kino says quietly. He already felt discouraged. 

“Yeah, we split an edible before you got here because Wooseok said you’d _freak_,” Yuto informs him. Wooseok immediately hits him in the stomach. “I- I mean, we did not do that. I mean, we did. But we didn’t do it because of _you_-”

“You’re making it worse,” Wooseok snaps, burying his face into his hands. “I told them no drugs when you’re here because I know you wouldn’t want to risk getting caught with anything. The cigarettes are a compromise.”

Kino nods, smiling gently at Wooseok. The fact Wooseok even thought about that made him feel all warm inside, no matter how small of a compromise it was. 

“So, what did your parents do to you that you want to torture them by bringing Wooseok around?” Shinwon asks. Wooseok’s face contorts into that of a frightened deer, and Hui practically chokes on his laughter. 

“Will you _shut up_?” Wooseok groans. 

“It’s a fair question,” Hui insists. Wooseok raises his hand like he’s gonna hit Hui before lowering it again. 

“Am I really so bad my presence is a _punishment_?” Wooseok asks. Yuto shakes his head rapidly. 

“I would defo bring you home, dude,” Yuto assures him.

“My parents love you because they’ve seen your house,” Hui adds with a laugh. “Now, Shinwon? _Shinwon_ is a punishment.”

“I really am,” Shinwon agrees, practically cackling. “Your dad _hates_ me.”

“You made a joke about him having an affair,” Hui reminds him. 

“It was funny!”

“Not when he was actually having one!” Hui barks. They all laugh except for Kino, who can’t even imagine saying something like that to _anyone_, much less his friends’ parents. 

“That’s your dad’s fault for _having the affair_,” Shinwon says decidedly. 

“Yeah, your mom’s hot. She doesn’t deserve that,” Yuto teases. Hui sits up just to turn around and glare at him. 

“I _will_ crush your pinheaded skull,” Hui threatens. 

“What about you, Kino? Your dad ever sleep with one of your older brother’s friends and then get caught because she uploaded a video of him on SnapChat for the entire world to see?” Shinwon asks. Kino’s eyes widen. 

“God,” Hui laughs. “He’s such an asshole.”

“His transgressions were just an opportunity for me to become your stepdad,” Yuto declares. 

“Kill you. I will actually kill you,” Hui snarls, not even bothering to sit up this time. 

“I- um. Wow,” Kino stammers. 

“Wanna know something that makes it all worse?” Wooseok asks, looking right at Kino. Kino nods. “They aren’t even playing it up for you. This is _always_ how they act.” 

Kino bites his lip. If he was going to fit in, he had to find a way to keep up. He cleared his throat, deciding to just jump in. 

“To answer your question, my parents didn’t do anything. I don’t think they’d be particularly thrilled by _any_ of you, though,” Kino admits. Hui and Shinwon erupt into a bunch of _oooooh_ noises, but Kino is only looking at Wooseok, whose face immediately falls at the revelation. Fuck. “I mean- I don’t know. My parents are really nice. I just don’t think they’d understand the whole _look_, if that makes sense.”

“Nah, I get it. _My_ parents don’t even understand,” Yuto agrees. There’s some chimes of agreement. 

“I think my parents will like you, though,” Kino says, gently touching Wooseok’s knee. “You’re so passionate about music and photography and stuff- my dad loves that, when people my age really _care_ about something. He’s always complaining that some of my friends only focus on dances and dating and it drives him insane.”

Wooseok offers him a smile, which Kino thinks serves just to let him know he wasn’t angry, and Kino smiles back, slowly extending and curling up his fingers around Wooseok’s kneecap. 

“Oh, my god. Can you get a room?” Hui gags.

“Would your dad like me? I can’t focus on dances or dating because literally no one wants to go to a dance with me nor date me,” Shinwon jokes. Kino laughs, waving a hand to assure Shinwon that wasn't true. 

“He’d think you’re funny,” Kino admits. “You’re pretty quick-witted.” 

“Thank you. I pride myself on being the brains of this friend group,” Shinwon beams. Hui scoffs, throwing his cigarette onto the grass and letting Shinwon crush it with his boot. Wooseok quickly picks it up, then fishes a plastic bag from his backpack. He drops the cigarette remnants in before zipping it inside. Kino raises an eyebrow at him. 

“Litter is destroying our earth,” he advertises. 

“More like Hui’s nicotine addiction is destroying your likelihood of-”

Wooseok glares at Shinwon, who pauses before changing his tone completely. 

“Saving our earth!” Shinwon concludes. “Wooseok is very passionate about global warming and climate change. You can tell your dad that.”

Wooseok sighs loudly.

The boys continue to talk for the rest of lunch, and Kino eventually finds his footing and is comfortable tossing back and forth insults with everyone. He got a couple of side-eyes for not knowing bands or artists, but Wooseok did his best to protect him, which Kino thought was pretty sweet. When Kino’s alarm to head to class goes off, he’s a little disappointed. 

The other guys quickly grab their stuff and head to class, but Wooseok is a bit lethargic, so Kino slows down, too. 

“You guys go ahead. I’ll catch up,” Wooseok tells them. The others take the hint and quickly disappear, leaving just Wooseok and Kino. 

“Um, I’m sorry about them,” Wooseok says quietly. Kino shakes his head. 

“They’re great. I’m sorry I was awkward about the smoking. And for saying that about my parents not liking you- I didn’t mean it. I really want you to come tonight,” Kino pleads. Wooseok nods. 

“I will. Don’t worry about it. I kinda expected your parents to not _get_ it, you know. Nobody does,” Wooseok revealed. Kino pouts, taking his hand into his own. 

“I do,” Kino stressed. 

“You’re seriously too nice to me,” Wooseok muses, running his thumb across the back of Kino’s hand. “It feels completely out of nowhere.”

“It’s... not,” Kino confesses. “I don’t really know how much I cared about the yearbook and how much I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Wooooow,” Wooseok mouths with a laugh. “You could have saved yourself a lot of time by just talking to me.”

“I could barely talk to you when I had a reason to,” Kino says, pulling his hand away and instead using it to fix Wooseok’s hair so it isn’t falling into his eyes. “Listen, I have to go because I’m terrified of being tardy, but I’ll see you tonight.”

“Okay,” Wooseok whispers, clearly taken aback by Kino touching his face. 

“You can come by early if you want. It’s only fair, right? You showed me your room; I’ll show you mine,” he beams. Wooseok nods. 

“I’ll be there,” Wooseok promises. Kino smiles at him one last time, then grabs his backpack and rushes to class. 

The rest of the day can’t go by fast enough. He’s delighted when seventh period rolls around and he gets to eat Yanan’s jello, but answering his questions about how lunch went were an awkward stammering mess to the point he wouldn’t be surprised if Yanan’s suspicions had been heightened. 

When Kino _finally_ gets home, he cleans his room like crazy. Kino was neat to begin with, but he had to hide everything he didn’t want Wooseok to see. All of his stuffed animals had to become prisoners in his closet, and his collection of rom-coms had to be hidden behind Tarantino and Fincher movies on his DVD shelf. 

Once he’s done that, he’s left to play the waiting game again and elects to duck into the living room to check on his sister and mom. When he walks in, Minju, his brat of a little sister (who he, of course, loved more than anybody), wiggles her eyebrows at him like she’s onto him. 

“What?” Kino asks, sitting on the couch next to her.

“Mom thinks this friend of yours isn’t a friend but a _friend_,” Minju explains. His mom calls her name sternly. “Sorry. Just sharing the facts.”

“He’s just my friend,” Kino addresses easily. “For now.”

“For now!” his mom repeats enthusiastically. 

“I don’t know. I like him. Yanan doesn’t,” Kino confides with a tiny sigh. 

“It’d be kinda weird if your best friend liked your boyfriend,” Minju decides. Kino rolls his eyes. 

“Yanan thinks he’s weird,” Kino laments. 

“Is he?” Minju asks. 

“_Minju_,” their mom snaps. 

“Kinda,” Kino admits. “You’ll see. It’s just that the way he dresses and the things he likes aren’t really the standard around here.”

“Who cares?” Minju retorted. “The standard around here sucks. This just means he has a brain.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Kino contemplates. “I think that’s why I like him, anyway. He’s not like anybody else I’ve liked before.”

“I’ll be honest, Ki, I’m a little afraid to see what you mean,” his mom admits. Kino offers her a reassuring smile. 

“You’ll like him. I promise.”

Kino joins Minju in watching roughly half of a horrible teen TV show about a murder in a small town before the doorbell rings. Kino’s entire face lights up, jumping to his feet to go greet Wooseok. 

“We’re gonna hang out in my room until dinner, alright?” Kino informs his mom. 

“Door open,” she orders. He scoffs. 

“I tried to hold his hand today and _literally_ broke out in a cold sweat. You don’t really have to worry about that,” he remarks.

“Kino-”

“Okay, fine,” he agrees, leaving the room and heading toward the door. 

When he sees Wooseok, though, his face immediately falls. He’d removed his earrings and jewelry, and scrubbed the nail polish clean off his fingers. He was wearing white converse, jeans and a striped green t-shirt, halfway tucked into his pants. He’d even parted his hair in the middle and cleanly tucked it behind his ears instead of letting it freely flop around his face. Kino, in all his time crushing on Wooseok, had never seen him like this. And he didn’t really like it. 

“Hey,” Wooseok says sheepishly. 

“Um, hi,” Kino replies. He grabs his hand and pulls him up the stairs and to his room. 

“Your house is really cute. Your mom did a good job of-”

“Thanks,” Kino cuts him off, pulling him into his room and pushing the door as close to closed as he could manage without getting chewed out by his mom. “Why are you dressed like that?”

“You don’t like it?” Wooseok faltered, face dropping completely. Kino frowned, immediately regretting what he said. He knew Wooseok had done this for him, and he’d shattered his efforts in a single, pointed question. 

“No, I _do_,” Kino promises. “But I mostly like _you_, and this isn’t you.”

Wooseok blushes, knitting a hand into his hair awkwardly.

“I just didn’t want to embarrass you with the way I look in front of your parents,” Wooseok admits. “A part of me wanted to cut my hair, but I couldn’t do it. I love it too much.”

“I would’ve _cried_,” Kino half-jokes. “I love your hair, too.”

“Thanks,” he whispers. “I’m sorry, though. I was trying to make your parents like me, and you to like me. I kinda thought you wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen with me if I didn’t look like, well, me.”

“I’m not ashamed to be seen with you-”

“Did you know Yuto sits like _directly_ behind you in your physics class? He overheard you telling Yanan how you spent all lunch slaving over calculus problems,” Wooseok informs him. “You know, you told me I was wrong to think you’re like the rest of your preppy friends, but you feel the same way about me. You just are too nice to say it.”

“That’s not true,” Kino insists. “I like how you look. I like your taste in music. I like how you dress and talk and just the way you _are_. But I’ve always cared about what other people think of me. So when I told Yanan I liked you and he didn’t react that well, I just panicked and lied. I’m not like you and Hui and Shinwon and Yuto where I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks. I wish I was, but I can’t change that overnight.” 

“You think we genuinely don’t give a shit?” Wooseok exclaims. “_Of course_ we give a shit. We’re in fucking high school. It’s easy to play games and pretend you don’t care about anyone or anything, but when it comes down to it, it hurts to have been made fun of for four years by people like your friends. And even then, I still _jumped_ when you gave me attention.”

“Wooseok, I-”

“Maybe I should go,” Wooseok decides. “I think this was all a mistake. I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t go,” Kino begs, grabbing his wrist. 

“I need to,” Woooseok asserts. He snatches his arm away, and less than a minute later Kino hears the front door shut. 

Kino doesn’t leave his room again that night. He doesn’t leave his room for most of the weekend, in fact. By Saturday afternoon, his sister has crawled into bed next to him and is watching Netflix on her iPad, providing emotional support while he dramatically stares at the ceiling and rants about how stupid he is. By Sunday evening, even Minju is sick of him. 

“Kino, why don’t you just _fix this_?” she queries, pausing her show and flipping onto her side so she can look at him. 

“How do you suggest I do that?” he grumbles. 

“Tell Yanan where you really were. Apologize to Wooseok. Hang out with him in public,” she suggests. “It’s not rocket science. He’s hurt because he thinks you’re embarrassed of him. And you are.”

“I am _not_,” he states confidently. 

“Yes, you are. I know you don’t think you are because you actually like him, but you literally hid him from _Yanan_. You text Yanan to let him know you checked the mail.” 

Kino’s heart sinks. Minju was right. He grabs one of his pillows and buries his face into it, letting out a loud scream. 

“Fix this, Kino,” she repeats in the snappiest tone she can muster in order to motivate him. He sighs. He would. He had to. 

The next morning, Kino crawls out of bed for the first time in two solid days. He showers and fixes his hair and puts on his favorite, purple sweater. He feels _good_, which isn’t how he expected to feel after the weekend he had. 

For the first four periods of the day, he maintains that mood. Then the bell rings. And fourth period ends. And it’s lunch time. And he has to come clean to Yanan. 

“Hey, stranger,” Yanan sings, arriving at his desk so they can walk to the cafeteria together as usual. “We didn’t talk _all weekend_. How did your non-date with Nosferatu go?”

“It didn’t end up happening,” Kino informs him with a frown. 

“Oh, thank god,” Yanan says, voice dripping with relief and resting a hand over his heart. “I knew you’d come to your senses. You know, if you’re lonely, I’m positive we can find you _someone_ actually suitable-”

“It didn’t happen because _he_ didn’t want to be around _me_, not the other way around,” Kino admits. “And it made me so sad I laid in bed alone all weekend.”

“Oh, Ki,” Yanan practically whimpers. “It’s okay. He probably wants a fellow vampire. Lestat, maybe.” 

“No,” Kino snaps. “It’s because my friends treat him and his friends badly. _I_ treat him badly. Instead of admitting to you I went to hang out with him during lunch on Friday, I made up a whole elaborate lie, and I’m _so stupid_ that I repeated it to you right in front of his best friend.”

“You ditched me to hang out with him?” Yanan realizes with a frown. “You said you had a calc quiz-”

“I made it up! I made it all up!” Kino cries out. “I was too fucking stuck up to just admit I wanted to hang out with someone who isn’t on student council and doesn’t letter in a sport. It’s embarrassing. We graduate in a couple of months, and I’m still so consumed by cliques I couldn’t just enjoy hanging out with a guy who I’ve had a crush on for a _year_.”

“A year? Kino, what the _fuck_ is going on?” Yanan bellows.

“I don’t know how to spell this out. I’ve liked him for a long time. I finally got to talk to him, and I think he liked me, too, but I was too afraid of people like Hongseok and Changgu and _you_ judging me. I fucked it up. But I like him, and I even like his friends. I like him so much that when I ate lunch with them and Hui was smoking a cigarette, it didn’t even bother me even though cancer _kills_.”

“Kino,” Yanan whispers with a tiny laugh. “I’m sorry. If you like him, be with him. I know I’m judgmental and harsh sometimes, but if you just told me how you felt and told me to stop, I would have. I care more about you than I do about what people think.”

“Thank you,” Kino says, just as lowly. Yanan sighs loudly in response. 

“Now, go apologize to _him_, you fucking idiot,” Yanan barks. “Hot goth boys are a hot commodity in this day and age. If you don’t do something, you’re not gonna end up together, and that’s gonna be a really lame and awkward end to this story.” 

Kino nods with a laugh, wiping away the tears that had welled up in his eyes when he was yelling at Yanan. 

“He actually doesn’t consider himself to be goth-”

“Kino, I am _really_ trying right now, and if you don’t get out of here before I think about when his friends got high on Xanax and ripped down all the spring fling banners I spent an entire weekend painting, so help me god,” Yanan growls. 

Kino nods, quickly grabbing his bag and waving to Yanan who, once again, salutes him for good luck. He scales down the stairs and across the school to the Cafeteria. When he sees Wooseok’s table is empty, he grumbles quietly to himself, then turns around and practically runs to the back of the school where the fields reside. 

When he arrives, he finds the same crew from Friday under the same bleachers and in almost the same position; Yuto and Wooseok were as far under back as they could manage without bumping their heads, Shinwon sat with his back against the far cement wall holding the bleachers steady and Hui laid with his head in Shinwon’s lap. Before he can even get close enough to say anything, he’s spotted by Hui, and all hell starts to break loose. 

“Dude, if you don’t get the _fuck_ out of here,” Hui warns, sitting up in case the situation escalated. 

“This is an invite only event,” Shinwon says dramatically. “So get lost.”

“I- I just- can we just talk?” Kino begs, looking at no one but Wooseok, who had thankfully revived his usual look. He notices Wooseok had pierced his nose, which provides a sort of comfort to Kino. His own response had been to lie in bed. Wooseok’s had been to stab a needle through his face. 

“He doesn’t want to talk to you,” Hui says with a scoff. Wooseok just stares at the floor so he doesn’t have to make the contact. 

“Wooseok, _please_,” Kino practically agonizes. When he doesn’t get a response, he decides he has to do something extreme. “Do you want to go to prom with me?”

Wooseok’s head whips up so fast Kino thinks he heard something snap in his neck. Hui and Shinwon immediately burst into laughter. 

“He said _prom_,” Shinwon mocked. 

“What does going prom with you entail for someone like us? Does he get to go inside the venue or just wait in the car?” Hui ponders. 

“Definitely in the car. He’s allowed to leave the AC on, but the radio is off-limits,” Shinwon hypothesizes. 

“But wait, don’t rich preppies pay for a limo for these things? What then?” 

“You’re _crazy_ if you think he gets to come in the _limo_ when he spends all day hanging out with the _poors_-”

“Will you two _shut the fuck up_ for once?” Wooseok growls. They both stop dead in their tracks. Wooseok quickly climbs to his feet and makes his way out from under the bleachers and over to Kino. “Do you mean it? You really want to go to prom with _me_?”

“More than anything,” Kino states. Wooseok bites his lip. 

“And it would just be normal? I get to be in the group with your friends. They all know I’m your date. You dance with me even during the slow songs. We take pictures together-”

“Yes. Of course,” Kino assures him. “I told Yanan I lied, and I told him I care about you. I’ll tell all my friends. I don’t care anymore. _Genuinely_.” 

“Okay,” Wooseok whispers. 

“Okay?” 

“Okay, I’ll go to prom with you,” Wooseok agrees. Kino grins, wrapping his arms around Wooseok’s neck and cautiously meeting their lips. 

Kino feels like everything is _perfect_ in that moment, until he tries to turn his head to the side and accidentally bumps Wooseok’s nose with his own. Wooseok winces in pain, pulling away and cupping his nose. His friends all gasp in horror. 

“Jesus, are you okay?” Kino asks, removing both of Wooseok’s hands from his face so he can look at his nose clearly. When it seems fine, he just knits each of his hands with one of Wooseok’s. 

“Yeah, it’s fine. It’s just new,” Wooseok explains. 

“Yeah, I noticed,” Kino croons. “I really like it.”

“You like it?” he repeats. Kino nods. “Well, that really sucks. I _specifically_ got it because I was mad at you and thought you wouldn’t.”

Kino laughs, cautiously pecking his lips one more time. 

“What did I say about you two getting a fucking roooooooooooom?” Hui howls. Wooseok and Kino just look at each other and laugh.

Maybe guys like Kino were meant to fall for guys like Wooseok after all.


End file.
